This weekend was a happy weekend because my whole house smelled like delicious warm cookies! For what occasion? A parting gift for a parting friend! His name is Dan and he visited Toronto for a few weeks from Seoul, Korea. He's originally from here, but he's been living in Seoul for quite some time. He's a great guy. Whenever someone from here goes to visit Seoul, Dan takes them out and treats them quite generously. And I was one of them! Last winter, I went by myself for a few weeks, and being alone in Seoul, he took me out for delicious meals, introduced me to his wonderful church, went to go watch a ballet (forced by me, haha).
He never let me pay a single meal, though. I told him that it wouldn't be fair for him and that I would be in-debt to him! But he replied that he's in-dept to many of his older friends that always took care of him when he was young and struggling. :) So he said he's pleased to be able to treat his younger friends when he gets the chance. Kinna like paying it forward you know?
I thought this was wonderful and vowed myself to pay it forward too. :) But this time, I was able to pay him back..with baked goodies!! He knew that I love baking, so he told me that when he visits Toronto, he would like some of the good stuff. So as a parting gift, I baked him a big box of cookies, three kinds, about 3 dozen of them. I brought it to the farewell dinner we had with a whole lotta friends and it was a hit! But mainly, I'm glad we were all able to share and enjoy good times together. And of course, a bit of chocolatey goodness couldn't hurt anyone!!
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
about 2 dozen
adapted from world's best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie
ingredients
3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets.
2. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
3. Cream butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. About 5 minutes. Add egg and mix until well incorporated. Stir in vanilla.
4. Add dry ingredients into creamed batter until incorporated. Mix in oatmeal and stir in chocolate chips.
5. Drop dough at least 1.5 inches apart by 2 tablespoons or small ice cream scoop. Ice cream scoops are helpful in keeping the size consistent, as well as easy to use!
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Don't overbake!
This oatmeal cookie is probably the favorite by all. It has a great chewy texture, and the hint of cinnamon brings some depth to the flavor. I added that myself, by the way, cuz the original recipe only called for vanilla. I know there are many spiced cookies, but I wanted to keep this a little more toffee-like and chocolatey. But really, someone told me with big bright eyes "This has got to the BEST cookie EVER. Honestly, I'm not kidding. It's the BEST cookie I've ever tasted!!" So there you go. :)
Jacque Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies
yields 6 5-inch cookies
adapted from jacque torres recipe/
ingredients
8 1/2 oz cake flour
8 1/2oz bread flour (i had to substitute with all purpose)
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
10 oz light brown sugar
8 oz granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
1 1/4lbs bittersweet chocolate disks/chunks/chips
seat salt
directions
1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.
(Okay, here, I made a mistake. I do realize that these jacque torres cookies are known for their ginormous size, but I just wanted to make normal size ones. So i did, and instead of 6 whopping cookies out of the dough, I divided into wayy smaller cookies. But I didn't consider the baking time, so my cookies were quite overbaked and stiff. If I were to bake it again I would probably reduce it to like 10-12 minutes).
This cookie's recipe is in my archive. So just look up double chocolate chunk cookie and you'll find it! It's a deep, rich chocolatey flavor that I would recommend to a chocolate lover! Not for the average cookie eater! :P
beautifully packed and ready to go!
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment